Gamification - A Novel Phenomenon or a New Wrapping for Existing Concepts?

Adding game elements to products and services has become a popular approach for enhancing users’ experiences. Accordingly, gamification is widely considered an important method for intrinsically motivating users toward a preferred behavior. But what exactly about gamification is actually novel? In a broad literature review, we compare and contrast gamification to similar concepts such as hedonic, persuasive and intrinsically motivating information systems. By decomposing and classifying game elements found in the literature, we distinguish between already existing elements and ones that can be considered new. In order to drive this area of research forward, we develop an extended framework for gamification, identify gaps in the literature, and propose future avenues for research.